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That assumption about weeds

Assumptions are amazing things that can snag our ankles like runaway vines just when we think we’re getting up a head of steam.

In small towns in rural America, reputation still counts. And this story is about an assumption tromping on a reputation.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Charlie had lived his entire life in this small town and had a little house with a backyard that didn’t concern Charlie much. He cared more about having coffee with his buddies and strolling the hardware store.

After a nice rain followed by some warm days, Charlie got a ticket from the city for the mess of weeds in his back yard. His town officials didn’t look kindly on his yard, which needed some mowing and hoeing and pulling.

In small towns, those kinds of tickets always show up in the newspaper’s report of the police activities. A cub reporter would be assigned to visit the police station and write up the tickets.

The column was popular in a town where the big news consisted of the school board budget meetings. After a yawner like that, the readers liked to peruse the police news to see what their neighbors had been up to.

Charlie braced himself for the ribbing he’d get after the latest issue hit the streets.

But the cub reporter writing up the police news was perhaps a little too fresh out of college for he saw “weeds” and wrote “marijuana.” So the news article announced that Charlie had been ticketed for raising a bunch of marijuana out back.

Let’s just say that Charlie’s embarrassment took a turn toward the possibility of owning a nice share of the local newspaper.